Columbia Closings   What's not in Columbia anymore

(I see a lot of folks from Facebook stopping by this page today. If you like this kind of stuff, go to the Alphabetical Closings page for lots more defunct Columbiana -- Ted 28 Feb 2014)

24 December 2013:

15 January 2014:

27 February 2014:

Well, that didn't last too long, I'm afraid. Sammiches was the follow-on operation to The Diner in the old Jesudi's building across from the Kmart. They opened in January 2014 and closed after about a month.

I only stopped by once, and I'm afraid I wasn't too impressed. First, I was expecting.. sammiches, and there were actually very few on the menu (and not ones I would normally go for) and second, the place was freezing. I had my sweater and my windbreaker the one buttoned and the other fully zipped up and I was still cold. The menu was some stapled laser-printed sheets, and I was the only one in the building. I had the feeling at the time (early Feb) that the place was not long for the world.

After commenter CayceKid mentioned that the place seemed closed, I rode by this afternoon (27 Feb) and there was a U-Haul van in front and the place was obviously being stripped -- something a look inside later in the evening confirmed.

(Hat tip to commenter CayceKid)

Well, here's another Five Points froyo operation closing shop. Winter can't be kind to such places. This one was in a nice new brick building at the corner of Santee & Blossom on the former Kenny's lot.

(Hat tip to commenter Mike d)

I first wrote about Empire Grill in a closing for College Corner. Even at the point I took the first picture above for that post, I had to wonder what was going on, as the signage for the new place made Open Late a big selling point, and .. it was never open late.

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It looks like the follow-on restaurant to Macs On Main, CW's Grill has closed.

I was never actually sure that they had opened, as they never replaced the Mac's signage, but apparently they did, and it lasted a bit over a year.

The State story on the closing of Mac's mentioned that the owner wanted to concentrate on his cobbler business, and the sign on the door now proclaims Opening soon: World famous cobblers & catering, so it would seem that he must have kept ownership of the building.

And will, I presume, avoid this mistake:

(Hat tip to commenter Homer)

I first became aware of this strip-mall storefront on Garners Ferry when it was Ye Old Fashioned Ice Cream & Sandwich Cafe.

Next it became Anthony's Old Fashioned Burger & Fry Co.. When that closed, there was a sign for a time that it would be re-opening as Ma's House Of Pizza, but in the event the new concept was actually Pepper's Pizza, Burgers, Pasta & More aka Pepper's House Of Pizza.

As reported by MrBO, that seems to have closed sometime around mid-January 2014.

Through all the incarnations, a lot of the physical plant remained the same, including the neon sign for Fresh Salads. In fact, walking around the side of the building, I found the remains of the Ye Old Fashioned sign:

(Hat tip to commenter MrBO)
Read the rest of this entry »

The new location:

Yoghut moved into the old Quiznos location next to Barnes & Nobel in 2011 and stayed there until B&N closed.

Now they are in the process of moving across the plaza to a suite next to the Outback Steakhouse. I guess I can understand that their foot traffic in the old location would be greatly reduced with the closure of B&N, but it seems to me that the last thing people coming out of Outback are interested in is more food..

(Hat tip to commenter Andrew)

I liked Punjabi Dhaba, though I haven't been able to make it over there for several months. The restaurant is part of the old Howard Johnson motel across from Wal-Mart near the intersection of Bush River Road and I-26. I started going there after Delhi Palace moved from Broad River Road, and found I liked it better.

Here is The State story on the fire, though it is very brief. When I stopped by there on Sunday 9 February, the place still smelled stronly of smoke and burnt wood. While I certainly hope to see them re-open, it's hard to see sinking much money into this old building. There are two vacant restaurants further up the road, but of course those buildings aren't in great shape either.

UPDATE 16 April 2014 -- As commenter Andrew reports, looks like demolition is starting (pix from 13 April, it may be done by now):

UPDATE 9 May 2014 -- Well, the building is gone, and I have removed the "temporary" tag from the post title:

As I headed for my morning coffee fix at the beach last December, I found myself rudely surprised as my go-to location, Latte Litchfield was closed.

The building itself has been there forever, but I cannot recall the last tenant. When I first became aware of the place, it was a Christian coffee shop. As far as I could tell, the only practical effect of this from a customer point of view (unless you opted to attend the gatherings listed on the bulletin board) was really pleasant baristas.

I'm not sure if the place changed hands or what, but gradually that aspect was dropped, and the Internet Cafe aspect came forward. During that period, I would often stop by to get my network fix, or to print work documents I had to deal with. As DSL and cable penetrated the area, I did less of that, and I think the same applied to others and the orientation shifted once again. Though the computers and wireless were still there, the place sort of shifted to being a working art gallery with various pieces on display and an artist occasionaly working on new ones.

For a long time, the cafe was connected through an interior archway to Eggs Up Grill and though they were run as separate businesses, you could drift out of breakfast at the one and into coffee and pastries at the other. When Eggs Up moved to the Litchfield Piggly Wiggly plaza, the archway was drywalled, and access to the new restaurant there was cut off. I suspect the Eggs Up move hurt business a good bit. Likewise (as is, I believe, gently hinted at in the closing notice), the plaza started bringing in other businesses that directly competed with Latte Litchfield. For instance, they served froyo as a sideline at one time, and the plaza brought in a separate froyo business right next door to them. Likewise for lunch items and a new restaurant two doors down.

I guess now I never will get the final punch on my free-cup card.

Here's a belated notice that Dano's Pizza has moved from the Publix strip mall at Rosewood Center and down the street a bit into the former Ole Timey Meat Market location at 3008 Rosewood. I still have not eaten there, but they already seemed to be doing a good business at the new location the one time I checked it out.

Tony's is a small breakfast and lunch operation on Bluff Road just South of I-77, in the Cricket Plaza.

I'm not sure from the sign if this is a permanent or temporary closing. And I'm not sure if the "construction" is Tony's specific, or refers to the general land clearing going on in the old Diamond's area right now.

UPDATE 13 May 2014 -- Now Creekside Cafe: